Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign nationals serving prison sentences have been deported from prisons in (a) the UK, (b) Southend and (c) Rochford and Southend East constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The information requested is available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2016/returns
We are unable to provide a breakdown of the number of removals for each of the requested constituencies in the UK and therefore the figures published are for the total number of removals.
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidelines her Department provides on the process for the removal of people from the UK who have exhausted an asylum application and appeal process.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Office encourages people with no right to be here to leave the country voluntarily and will offer help for them to do this. Where they fail to leave the Home Office we will enforce their departure. Guidelines on removal are available
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/enforcement-instructions-and-guidance
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many hackney carriage licences have been revoked by local authorities on the grounds of the licence holder no longer being a fit and proper person in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport does not hold data on the number of hackney carriage licences revoked by local licensing authorities.
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving tests have been taken at the Southend driving test centre; and how many of those tests resulted in a pass in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The number of tests conducted and passed at Southend on Sea Driving Test Centre are in the table below. Southend on Sea Driving Test Centre opened in May 2012.
Year | Conducted | Passes | Pass rate (%) |
01/04/16 – 30/12/16 | 5011 | 2178 | 43.5 |
01/04/15 – 31/03/16 | 5772 | 2450 | 42.4 |
01/04/14 – 31/03/15 | 5064 | 2217 | 43.8 |
01/04/13 – 31/03/14 | 3,869 | 1,649 | 42.6 |
14/05/12 – 31/03/13 | 2,234 | 893 | 40.0 |
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the (a) plans for and (b) timings of the planned closure of the HM Revenue and Customs facility in Southend.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) plans to move to regional centres is part of the wider Government strategy to develop Government hubs. This will help to maximise flexibility, collaboration and customer service while reducing costs to the taxpayer. HMRC is not intending to make any significant changes to its already announced strategy.
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the implication for burglary prevention of the selling by Amazon of lock picking kits.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office has not undertaken such an assessment. We are aware that equipment which may have a number of legitimate uses can be bought online which can potentially be misused by criminals to commit crimes such as burglary. We are clear that, where such crimes take place and are reported to the police, they should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, the perpetrators taken through the courts and met with tough sentences.
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for economic stability in Zimbabwe of the government in that country issuing bank notes in its own currency equivalent to the US dollar.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Zimbabwe faces a serious economic crisis. Bond notes have provided some short term liquidity, but they are not a sustainable solution to Zimbabwe’s economic challenges. Without fundamental reform, taking into account the advice of the International Financial Institutions, an economic collapse is a real prospect. The British Embassy in Harare continues to monitor the situation and we are keeping our travel advice under review.
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the efficiency of the customs service in Ghana.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Ghana's customs service falls under the responsibility of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) with whom we share a good relationship.
We support the World Bank's respected and influential annual Doing Business Survey, which reports on many of the key issues that businesses face in countries across the world. One important indicator that the report examines relates to trading across borders. The effectiveness of a country's customs procedures are highly relevant to this indicator. For Ghana, the 2016 survey indicated a small improvement in the country's relative ranking for trading across borders. However, burdensome procedures and corruption at borders are among the most problematic factors for trade in Ghana. Customs procedures lack efficiency and exporting and importing require time-consuming paperwork to clear goods at the border. Corruption and bribery in these processes are widespread. A recent report by US based GAN Integrity found that whilst Ghana performs best in the West African region for road governance in relation to customs services, controls and demands for bribes are increasing at the Tema port exit.
We continue to follow these matters closely and regularly raise concerns about the ease of doing business including corruption with the Government of Ghana.
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government is providing to the government of Ghana.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The United Kingdom provides Ghana with support in a number of areas including help to improve its macro-economic management, deliver public services, improve the accountability of government and decision-makers to its citizens and transparency particularly in the oil and gas industry, reduce barriers to business creating an environment attractive to Foreign Direct Investment and small and medium enterprises. The UK is also helping Ghana to build its capacity and capability to tackle a wide range of crime, including human and drug trafficking, illegal migration, fraud, corruption, terrorism, piracy and training for the military.
Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government has had with the Ghanaian government since the general election in that country on 7 December 2016.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The United Kingdom’s High Commissioner and his team met with Ghana’s President-Elect Nana Akufo-Addo on 13 December 2016, and handed over a letter of congratulations from the Prime Minister. The Foreign Secretary spoke to the President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo on 15 December to congratulate him. They discussed the bilateral relationship and enhancing cooperation on economic growth, trade and investment, anti corruption and security.